SB
on Game of Thrones: Blog Entry Number
Ten
The Death of Joffrey
Even
after Joffrey survived the first three seasons, I still knew Joffrey would get
what was coming to him. When Joffrey
finally died in episode 4.2, however, I had mixed feelings about it.
Even though Joffrey died
a gruesome death, I still feel that (when compared to some of the other dead Game of Thrones characters) Joffrey died
a relatively quick and easy death. Yes, the choking and the foaming made it seem
like a terrible way to go, however, Joffrey died at his wedding party, died
with his mother next to him, and died before he ever recognized (and apologized
for) his errors.
I am not wishing that
Joffrey died a more painful death. I am
glad that the death of Joffrey did not involve torture or (too much) extreme
gore. But after considering all of the harm that Joffrey committed against so
many people (including the public humiliation of Tyrion in this same scene), it
seems that Joffrey had a relatively quick and peaceful exit.
I was hoping that Joffrey
would have the capacity to understand the errors of his ways and to maybe even genuinely apologize (to Sansa, Tyrion,
or anyone) for how evil he was. Joffrey never
really did this and I was hoping that he would before he died.
Connection
to other Media. Some
might consider this to be a stretch, but Joffrey’s death almost reminded me of Vito Corleone’s death in The Godfather. In sum, after
a life of committing and organizing gruesome crimes, Vito died of a heart
attack in his garden. Many viewers of The Godfather have held that Vito had a
relatively peaceful death because Vito did not die in a shootout or a gory
scene, but died next to his grandson while gardening.
When I first saw The Godfather, I was upset and felt
that, considering all of the crime that Vito was involved with throughout his
life, Vito had a relatively peaceful exit.
However, I feel differently about (and have a greater appreciation for)
Vito’s death after a few re-watches of The
Godfather (and the sequels). Perhaps, my mixed feelings about
Joffrey’s death will change when I re-watch Game
of Thrones, one day.
The Impact of Aristotle’s
Ethics on Medieval Philosophy Depicted in Game
of Thrones
In
episode 4.3 when Tywin, Cersei, and Tommen were observing Joffrey’s body, Tywin
was trying to teach Tommen about what it takes to be a king and gave specific
examples of previous kings and their errors.
Tywin explained how one king was so pious that he wouldn’t eat anything
(because this king believed that food was an earthly, sinful pleasure) and, as
a result, died of starvation. Tywin also
told the story of a gluttonous king who died from over-indulging in earthly,
sinful pleasures. Tommen asserted and
Tywin confirmed that a good king must have wisdom to avoid extremes.
This
scene reminded me of Aristotle’s ethical principle of the golden mean, which is
discussed in (Robert C. Bartlett and Susan D. Collins’s) Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and other works of Aristotle. In sum, the golden mean principle is the idea
that one should avoid extremes. For
example, (going off of Tywin’s comparison of the kings) eating too much and
eating too little are both harmful because one must eat a healthy (middle) amount,
in order to survive.
Samuel
Enoch Stumpf and James Fieser (in Philosophy:
History and Problems) and Frederick C. Copleston (in Medieval Philosophy) explained how Aristotle’s works had a great
influence on medieval philosophy. Not
only were Aristotle’s views on ethics highly regarded in medieval philosophy,
but so were Aristotle’s views on logic and other topics (as discussed in Copleston's Medieval Philosophy and Stumpf
& Fieser's Philosophy: History and Problems).
No explicit reference to
Aristotle was made in this scene.
However, knowing that Aristotle had such a strong influence on medieval
philosophy and knowing that this is one time period that is explored in Game of Thrones, I made the connection
and observed that Tywin was teaching Tommen the lesson of Aristotle’s golden
mean. As can be seen, Aristotle’s influence
on medieval philosophy was depicted in Game
of Thrones.
Works Cited
Bartlett, Robert C. & Collins, Susan D. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Chicago,
IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2011. Print.
Copleston, Frederick C. Medieval Philosophy. New
York, NY: Harper Torchbooks, 1961.
Print.
The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Diane Keaton. Paramount Pictures, 1972. Film.
The Godfather. Dir. Francis Ford Coppola. Perf. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Diane Keaton. Paramount Pictures, 1972. Film.
Stumpf, Samuel Enoch & Fieser, James. Philosophy: History and Problems. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 2008. Print.
While I would love to hope that no humans are beyond humility and learning from their earlier mistakes and evils - I fear I would have had a hard time believing Joffrey if he turned remorseful before any impending death. I think because the show's trajectory which made him only more and more disturbing at time went on, the writers/actors would have had a hard time selling any true remorse on his part. However...yeah...it leaves an awfully bad taste in my mouth to consider the possibility that atrociousness may never be recognized as such by certain individuals. Unfortunately we have historical examples of just that...
ReplyDeleteComparing Joffrey to Don Corleone is a bit of a stretch. Don Corleone committed violence with the intent to protect his family, which had been under assault going back to Sicily. Joffrey is a sadistic psychopath who only wants to protect his own twisted ego. The tomato garden death of Don Corleone was interesting in that he was pretending to be a monster to his five-year old grandson when the heart attack occurs. The kid pretends to shoot him with a crop sprayer. The beauty of that scene is that it suggests that it is only in movies where the gangster dies in a hail of bullets and a pool of blood at a relatively young age. So many gangsters are never caught--indeed bootlegger Joe Kennedy's son became the president of the United States.
ReplyDeleteI like Kaelme am having problems imagining in what universe Joffrey would repent and apologize to anyone. If the character is effective, it is because he does not have the capacity to understand his own dysfunction.
I'm not sure Tywin's attempts at instruction of the young king are without self-motivation. It's always about control with him.
Comparing Joffrey to Don Corleone is a bit of a stretch. Don Corleone committed violence with the intent to protect his family, which had been under assault going back to Sicily. Joffrey is a sadistic psychopath who only wants to protect his own twisted ego. The tomato garden death of Don Corleone was interesting in that he was pretending to be a monster to his five-year old grandson when the heart attack occurs. The kid pretends to shoot him with a crop sprayer. The beauty of that scene is that it suggests that it is only in movies where the gangster dies in a hail of bullets and a pool of blood at a relatively young age. So many gangsters are never caught--indeed bootlegger Joe Kennedy's son became the president of the United States.
ReplyDeleteI like Kaelme am having problems imagining in what universe Joffrey would repent and apologize to anyone. If the character is effective, it is because he does not have the capacity to understand his own dysfunction.
I'm not sure Tywin's attempts at instruction of the young king are without self-motivation. It's always about control with him.
Dr. Chown, I had a feeling you might have something to say about my comparison between Joffrey & Don. Thanks for the analysis of Don's death. That was fascinating.
ReplyDeleteEven I (as stated in the blog) thought this connection might a stretch. I made the connection just because I (initially) felt a lack of satisfaction with both deaths. Other than that, it's hard to compare.
Also, that's a great point about Tywin. But even if Tywin was doing this out of self-interest, it seemed like Tywin utilized Aristotle's ethics, to me. It's a great lesson about discipline, but (as you point out) it seems like Tywin's purposes of teaching Aristotle's ethics was for control & self-interest.
I like that you brought up how, in comparison, Joffrey's death was basically quick and easy. I disagree about hoping he would have genuinely apologized to Sansa beforehand, only because I don't think there's a way in the seven kingdoms that would ever happen. But, your post did make me realize that as far as deaths that we are rooting for go, it seems that the sheer joy in it FINALLY happening overshadows the fact that Joffrey deserved a more gruesome end. He deserves more of what Theon is going through than Theon does.
ReplyDeleteJust add this assassination to the list of ways in which "kings" have been dispatched in this show. We've seen a boar attack, a shadow murderer and now a poisoning. I think this might be GRRM's way of showing how dangerous the world is in general and you should be very wary of who you place your trust in. Even the stories from characters regarding past kings as you mentioned between Tywin and Tommen, there seems to be an effort to show us that killing a king is not cut-and-dry.
ReplyDelete